On Wednesday, police were checking everyone's IDs before letting them inside the campus. They had created a human barricade near the metro station at TSC and were not allowing anyone to pass through. Everyone was asked to take a detour and enter the area through Payra Chattor. I did so and reached Bacchu Bhai's tea shop, when I saw the car of a police official enter the area. All the journalists rushed to the car that stopped near the Raju Memorial Sculpture. When the police official got out, the journalists harangued him about the presence of police and BGB on campus. He did not answer them; instead, he pushed them and continued walking towards the police barricade near the TSC station. At that moment, a sound grenade went off. There was smoke everywhere. I felt very afraid.

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Dying for a systemic change

Inside the campus, too, police members created human barricades—one right in front of the Raju Sculpture and the other at the three-way intersection in front of Ruqayyah Hall. At the VC Chattor, we saw many protesters. Some of them had sticks with them and some came from the halls. When the gathering reached around 1,000, we prepared for the symbolic gayebi janaza (funeral prayers in absentia). At that time, there were many members of police standing in front of the vice chancellor's house, Ruqayyah Hall and Fuller Road, and a police water tank was positioned a few metres away from the Arts Building gate. After the prayer, we decided to bring out a procession from the VC Chattor to Raju Memorial Sculpture with the symbolic coffins, voicing our quota reform demands, questioning the presence of police and BGB on campus and demanding punishment for the students' killings. We pushed through the police barricade and reached the water tank. Some students shouted at the police angrily and provoked them to shoot, questioning their presence on campus. As we continued the procession, the water tank suddenly moved back and we heard a sound grenade go off. Right then, the clash started.

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Universities and the government have failed the students

There was smoke everywhere, and I heard gunshots. The police standing near the VC gate were firing rubber bullets and throwing sound grenades and tear gas shells towards us. The procession got dispersed and there was a lot of chaos. I felt a burning sensation in my eyes from the impact of the tear shells. I could not see properly but managed to climb the wall in Hakim Chattor and enter the Central Mosque; I started running through the mausoleum of Kazi Nazrul Islam to reach the National Museum. I was able to leave the campus with a few others by showing our IDs to the police. But a friend, who called me when I reached the TSC metro station, said he had to take shelter inside a hall. He said the police had launched an attack on students who fled towards the Mall Chattor.

Mustahid Riad is student of the University of Dhaka.

Views expressed in this article are the author's own.

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